Changing all the Time
by Katalytic
Summary: Hermione decides to take a winter walk one bright Saturday to clear her mind and bumps into someone. Things are said, done and revealed, and Hermione ends up with even more things to think about. And they meet again, and again and again. Cedmione. (Set during The Goblet of Fire) Previously titled "Just Walking".
1. On a Walk

**Everything you recognize is not mine. I have updated this chapter with the help of my new beta CuppaTea13. I am going to be updating all of them. Hope you like it!**

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><p>Hermione sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes. Letting out a huge yawn, she caught herself in the mirror. "I look like a lion." Slowly, she pushed back the hair from her face and smirked to herself. Her eyes were drawn outside to the Hogwarts grounds, and she let out a gasp. The sunshine sparkled on the fresh snow on the ground and the icicles hanging on the windowsill, making the world look like a winter wonderland.<p>

Lavender broke the silence as she turned over in her bed and muttered, "M'cold."

On her right side, Parvati sat up in her own bed rubbing her eyes. Knowing no one else would be getting up anytime soon and that Lavender always did kick off her blankets in the night, Hermione tiptoed over to Lavender and pulled the blanket over the half-asleep girl in a brisk fashion. She flashed a smile at Parvati and walked into the bathroom she shared with the other girls in the dormitory.

Since it was a Saturday and they did not have to be in uniform, she pulled on a pair of worn blue jeans along with a red jumper. Tugging on a pair of thick socks, Hermione shoved her feet into her black boots. Grabbing her white coat, scarf and gloves, she treaded softly through Gryffindor tower.

Hermione then proceeded to jump over scrolls and ink pots left carelessly on the stairwells and in the common room. After that healthy workout for her legs, she finally got to the portrait of the Fat Lady. Pushing it open and saying a quick good morning to the Fat Lady, she ran through the cold hallways of Hogwarts. She slipped into the Great Hall and grabbed a plate.

A few students were already there and a gentle murmuring had settled over the Hall. It looked like the professors were getting ready to put up the Christmas decorations soon. Hermione could see the pink and orange streaks of color in the sky on the enchanted ceiling, threading through a few fluffy cotton candy clouds, all against a background of a heavenly baby blue. Hermione got some eggs, bacon, and sausage on her plate and started eating. It was nowhere as good as her mother's cooking but it would do. Taking a bite of her eggs, she looked over to the other tables. Half of the Hufflepuff students looked like they were still asleep, the Slytherins were huddled in small groups around their table whispering and laughing quietly, and some dutiful Ravenclaws had their textbooks out and looked like they were studying seriously. As she scooped up the last of her food, she nodded to the Gryffindor quidditch team that had just taken a seat near her. Flashing a smile at Seamus as he sat down at the table, she stood up and walked to the big front doors of the school. More and more of the students were slowly walking down the stairs, some looking like brainless zombies pulled out of their sleep by their friends and some like marathon runners ready to take on the day, and their sleepy friends. They were all chatting quite loudly and the gentle murmuring that had been over the Great Hall was replaced by a loud and robust atmosphere. Hermione got a wave and a smile from Parvati and Lavender as they walked with the rest of the kids. Putting on her white coat, the red scarf her parents had sent her as an early Christmas present, and thick black gloves, she pushed open the heavy doors.

"Wow," she breathed out as she took in the winter paradise. Her breath fogged up almost immediately and she waved her hand through it, giggling as she remembered how she and her father would joke around that the other's mouth was on fire and the fog was a result of that. It had snowed quite heavily, she noted as she took a few steps away from the castle. There were also some dewdrops on the poor, leafless trees around the castle, and they looked like diamonds that had been spilled on the ebony branches, slowly dripping to the ground. She let out a gasp and watched as her breath fogged again. Something that many people did not know about Hermione was that she loved to take long walks whenever she felt stressed. And with Harry, the Triwizard Championship, and Yule Ball, she really was stressed.

Catching sight of a wild rabbit nestled between some trees, she followed a trail past Hagrid's Hut and to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Hermione saw a pile of snow and ice on the ground and she took out her wand from her pocket. "Forma," she said quietly and swept her wand over the snow, shaping it into a staircase like figure. Climbing up the stairs, she scared off the rabbit and it slipped through into the forest. Hermione resolved to sit on a nearby tree stump and relax. She loved moments like these when she could just sit and do nothing. Before she realized it, the sun was over her head and her stomach was growling again. She stood up and patted the snow off her coat and turned to go back to the castle. She stepped down on the top step of her makeshift staircase and before she could react it gave away from beneath her. Understandably, she had sat on that tree stump for over an hour. The warm sunlight had probably caused the ice and snow to lose their firmness and thus collapse.

"Granger, watch out! Wingardium Leviosa!" A shout came from behind her, and suddenly she was suspended in the air. So this is what a bird feels like, Hermione thought for a moment as she hung in the air. She wondered if she flapped her hands, could she move?

"Oh!" Gathering her wits, Hermione extracted her wand from her pocket and floated herself to safe ground.

"Thank you," she said to the boy who had helped her. He was perhaps a few years older than her, with a handsome, likable face. He was currently standing next to Hermione and smiling nicely at her.

"No problem," The tall Hufflepuff, as she could see by the long yellow and black scarf around his neck, said to her, "I'm Cedric Diggory, and you are?" He extended his hand to her.

"Hermione Granger," she shook the offered hand.

"Ah," He said with a nod, "Potter's and Weasley's friend from the Quidditch World Cup right?"

Hermione stiffened slightly but nodded assent. She hated being referred to as just Harry's or Ronald's friend, but that was often the case. The only thing she could do was be polite to this boy and then walk back quickly to the castle. She couldn't snap at the person who had possibly saved her some bodily damage.

"So were you planning on falling on your face?" he asked her with a mischievous smile.

"Of course I was, Diggory" she said in a snooty voice, starting to walk back to the castle, "Everyone knows putting snow on your face is wonderful for the complexion."

She walked a bit faster and then she heard Diggory laugh from behind her. He walked faster too and fell in step with her.

"I'm heading back to the castle too," he said as an explanation and Hermione saw that the cold had made Diggory's face red and flushed.

"Are you coming down with something?" Hermione wasn't exactly sure why she cared but it was winter, and Diggory looked a bit sick. He was also one of the Triwizard competitors, so it would probably crush his fan base if he had to stay away from them and rest for a few days. She turned to face Diggory, "Your face is all red."

"Oh no, I'm fine," he shrugged it off and stared at something in the distance.

Something was bothering Hermione but she couldn't figure out what. Something Diggory had said. She got a tingly feeling on the back of her neck and she turned to see Diggory looking at her. When he noticed her staring back at him he turned away. The tingling sensation had started when Diggory had introduced himself.

"All right then," they had reached the big doors by now and Hermione pulled them open, "Well it was nice talking to you, and thank you once again."

"No problem," he walked away in the opposite direction and Hermione climbed up the stairs to go back the Gryffindor Tower. That's when she realized what it was that had been bothering her: before, when he had cast the levitation charm, he had said her name- so why had he acted like he didn't know who she was?

And so Hermione Granger slowly walked up the stairs with one more thing to dwell on over the winter holidays.

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><p><strong>Review please! :)<strong>


	2. Down to the Kitchens

**This is an updated chapter. Please review! :)**

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><p>Cedric Diggory was hungry. And when he was hungry, he couldn't sleep.<p>

He sat up in his bed and glared at his stomach, "You couldn't have been hungry at dinner, could you? Of course not, you have to wake me up in the middle of night with your bloody growling."

To which his stomach growled again. Loudly. For a long time. "Fine," Cedric huffed, "I'll go eat something."

Grabbing the shirt that was nearest to him, which he absently noticed was a bright canary yellow, he pulled it over his pajama bottoms. Tiptoeing quietly, he slipped out of his dorm and out of the common room. He had been walking for a few minutes when he realized that maybe he shouldn't have chosen such a bright shirt to wear, or he should have gotten a coat to wear over it at least. Was that his imagination or was that Mrs. Norris?

Just then, a disembodied voice said, "Diggory, don't scream!"

So, of course, Cedric screamed.

And then, Granger's head popped out of nowhere. It was as if it was floating in the dark, cold, hallway but Cedric knew that couldn't be the case. Could it? Cedric gave an involuntary shudder. Her arm then joined her head in the air and grabbed Cedric's hand. "Diggory listen! One, don't talk. Two, get under this." In a heartbeat, Hermione threw a piece of silky fabric over both of them. It was made for one, Cedric had time to notice that and it's unique texture before he couldn't see it at all. "Three, crouch down. Four, you scream like a girl."

"What? I do not, Granger!" Cedric shouted in a stage whisper. Hermione gave him a very pointed look and pulled out her wand. Absently, Cedric wondered where she had kept it, it hadn't been in her hand when he had first seen her. Hermione touched it to the cloak, and whispered a couple spells, making the fabric bigger and the air around them warmer.

"Now hush, I think Filch is coming." Hermione quieted him.

"Aren't you cold in that?" Cedric asked her. She was wearing a long white nightgown but she wasn't shivering like he was.

"No," Hermione whispered, "I'm wearing shorts and a tank top under it."

"Does that even help?" He asked her, scrunching his eyebrows together, with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Eh, not really," she replied nonchalantly, "Now shush, here comes Filch."

Moments later Filch and Mrs. Norris rounded the corner, "Hm, do you see anyone Mrs. Norris?"

His cat meowed, "But I could have sworn I heard voices. Where do you think those children are hiding Mrs. Norris?" Filch swung his light around.

Cedric stifled a snort, and with the moonlight seeping through the fabric he could see that Hermione was smiling too.

Filch and Mrs. Norris walked away and Cedric turned to Hermione, "So is this an invisibility cloak?"

"Yes," She responded, "Harry usually keeps it in his trunk where I can find it because he knows I take it sometimes to go to the kitchens after hours."

"Wait, so you snuck into the boys' dormitory in the middle of the night to get an invisibility cloak to go to the kitchens? How many rules are you breaking?" Cedric couldn't believe it.

"What?" Hermione practically shouted, making Cedric worrying about Filch and Mrs. Norris coming back, her cheeks getting redder and her eyes flashing with anger, "You can't believe that Bookworm Granger does things like that?"

"What no-" Cedric tried to placate her.

"Admit it, Diggory. That's what you and half the world thinks." Hermione looked positively livid, and a few strands of hair had escaped from the bun she had tied it in and were snaking around her neck and face. "And the other half," she continued, "Thinks I'm a gold digger who's after the Triwizard Champions. Now even I don't know who I really am." As she said the last bit, her voice was sad and soft and Cedric had the sudden urge to give her a hug. But he restrained himself because he knew she would probably hex him if he tried.

"Granger!" Cedric said and he tentatively reached out and took one of her hands, it was small and freezing cold in his large, warm ones, he noticed with concern. "You're not a bookworm, you've helped Potter fight You-know-who so many times. And you proved you don't look like one either at the Yule Ball."

He wasn't sure but he thought he saw a tentative smile break out on Hermione's face.

"And as for the gold digger thing. Well, I can tell Rita Skeeter that you haven't tried to woo me yet. I don't know about the others though." He said this with a mischievous smile.

This time he was sure that Hermione was smiling.

"And who you really are? Well you," He squeezed her hand, "Are Granger."

After a few seconds of silence, Hermione, in a very sarcastic tone she reserved especially for the Weasley twins, said, "Wow, you're so deep."

"I know right?" He chuckled but he had succeeded in making her smile again.

"Idiot." She said with a grin tugging at her lips.

"Merlin's beard!" Cedric exclaimed, "I try to help you and you insult me?"

They continued their banter even when they had got into the kitchens and the elves had given them their food (a slice of pie and warm cider for Hermione and a treacle tart and pumpkin juice for Cedric). Then he made the mistake of calling her "bushy-haired".

The next thing he knew, Hermione threw something at his face. "Ouch, what is this? A badge?" He picked it up, "S.P.E.W.?"

"Yes," Hermione replied, a bit more calmly than before,"Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

"Oh," he said, Hermione couldn't quite read the expression on his face, "Well you are a muggleborn."

"What?" Hermione asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"No, don't get mad again," Cedric said quickly, "I'm just saying muggles are the ones who wage war, make treaties and even establish a new country for the sake of freedom, right? So since you're a muggleborn of course you'd feel that way about house elves." He paused for a moment, "And you may not realize it, and it isn't the case most of the time but, house elves depend on their wizards as much as wizards depend on them. Some people may mistreat them but most don't."

Hermione was still looking at him with a guarded expression on his face.

"Look," Cedric sighed, "House elves have been serving wizards forever. Trying to change it is probably impossible. But working to make sure that they are well looked after and taken care of is something you can do."

Cedric sat back in his seat and waited to see if she would blow up.

"Huh," Hermione responded, "You really are deep."

"Yes, yes," Cedric said, "Bow to my wisdom."

"Well," Hermione stood up, since she had finished eating, "I should go."

"Yeah," Cedric stood up as well. He watched as Hermione gave her plate and cup to a house-elf she called 'Dobby' while thanking him profusely. Dobby in turn asked her to give his greetings to Master and his Wheezy. Cedric gave his own plate and cup to another elf near him.

When they were parting ways to go their respective common rooms, Hermione grabbed Cedric's hand, "Thank you, Cedric."

"For what?" Cedric asked her.

She shrugged at him and smiled.

"Well, a big, brave Triwizard Champion such as yourself can walk back to his common room without getting caught, right?" Hermione asked and even with just the faint moonlight, Cedric could see the mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Of course I can," And with that Cedric and Hermione parted ways.

It was only when Cedric was halfway to his common room when he realized two things. One, she had called him Cedric. Two, he had forgotten to give back the S.P.E.W. badge to her.

"Oh well," He thought to himself, "maybe it will come in handy."


	3. Bake a Cake

**I updated this! Hope you like it! :) **

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><p>When Hermione had been younger, Valentine's Day used to be one of her favorlite holidays. She and her mum would make heart-shaped pancakes while her dad sang silly love songs to her mum. But now that she was at Hogwarts... not so much.<p>

Hermione dodged a person's heart-shaped balloon. "Sorry!" It was following a sheepish looking tan, brunette Slytherin girl who looked like she wanted to kill it with fire.

"It's all right." Hermione said and continued on her walk to the library. So that was this year's Valentine's Day thing. Heart-shaped balloons to send to your object of affection that would then follow around said object of affection.

Hermione hoped Ginny hadn't sent one to Harry.

While she was walking to a portrait she knew was a shortcut to the library, she passed the painting of the fruits and her stomach growled.

With a sigh, Hermione turned and reached out one hand to the pear.

"Hello, Granger," Warm breath tickled her neck.

Hermione screamed and whipped her hand back so fast it hit the person with a satisfying thunk in their stomach.

"Ouch, Granger, that hurt. What are doing, trying to kill me?" The person turned out to be Cedric Diggory.

"What are you doing, Diggory? Trying to get yourself killed? You shouldn't sneak up on a person like that you know." Hermione cried.

"I wasn't 'sneaking'." Cedric retorted, making air-quotes around 'sneaking', "I called your name a couple times but you didn't hear me. No surprise, you were thinking very loudly."

"What?" Hermione asked, "I was thinking loudly?"

"Yes," Cedric stated with a decisive air, and stepped up to the painting and tickled the pear, "Now are you coming inside?"

With a whispered affirmative Hermione stepped inside through the painting hole, realizing for the first time how much taller Diggory was than her.

"So, do you have any plans for today?" Cedric asked her as they both sat down at the table.

"No, not really," Hermione said.

Dobby popped up then with two mugs of hot cocoa in his hands, "Here you go mister and miss."

"Thank you, Dobby," they both said.

"Wait, Dobby," Hermione interjected, "Do you have any chocolate cake?"

"Chocolate cake?" Dobby paused to think, "No we do not, miss. But Dobby go tell others to make quickly for miss."

"No!" Hermione declared, "I mean, no. I'll make it."

"What?" Dobby said, "No, miss, sit, sit, sit. Dobby make cake, Dobby can't make miss cook. Dobby make good cake, miss sit."

"No Dobby," Hermione argued, "I can do it. I make cake for my family all the time."

But Dobby persisted that he make it, until finally Hermione said, "Let's compromise. We can make it together."

"Alright." Dobby agreed to that.

"Hey, what about me?" Cedric interrupted.

To be frank, Hermione had forgotten that Cedric had been there, "Oh well, you can help if you want to, I guess."

Hermione pulled off the black coat she had been wearing over her red and white striped shirt and hung it on the chair she had been sitting on. Then she pushed up her sleeves, "Alright Dobby, let's begin."

They made a good team, Hermione and Dobby. They didn't follow any recipe, because Hermione said she knew what to do, so they tossed in whatever they thought sounded good. "Chocolate chips!" was Hermione's contribution and "Firewhiskey!" was Cedric's enthusiastic shout.

"NO!" Hermione and Dobby said at the same time, and Cedric sighed, "Why not?"

"Because I said so, Diggory." Hermione answered, "But maybe we can put some butterbeer in it."

"So how's Krum?" Cedric asked as they were putting the cake in the oven, "Shouldn't you be celebrating Valentine's Day with him?"

"He's fine," Hermione smiled, "But no, we're just friends. He's with Professor Karkaroff, they're practicing for the upcoming task.

"How's Cho?" She asked with a mischievous smile, "Shouldn't you be with her?"

"No," Cedric had to admit, she was very good at changing the subject, "She has a really bad cold and she's in the Infirmary. She didn't want me to catch it so I left."

They continued working like this until when they were frosting the cake and Cedric started an impromptu frosting throwing war. After that Hermione 'jokingly' yelled at Cedric and told him to sit in a corner and think about what he had done. "Fine." Cedric said and sat on a chair looking like an adorable five year old sulking.

Wait a minute, adorable? Where did that come from? Hermione put both her hands on her face and shook her head, not noticing the fact that she was getting whipped cream all over herself. What was that? Did she just call Cedric Diggory, the golden boy of Hogwarts, adorable? That was such an un-Hermione Granger-ly thing to say. Adorable?

Hermione sneaked another look at Cedric who was currently staring at her worriedly, "Are you alright, Granger?" He stood up, walked over to her and wiped away some of the frosting that was on her face, "Your face is all red, and it's really warm too. Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey, you could be sick."

Hermione stood there numbly for a moment and Cedric waved a hand in front of her face, "Hello? Granger?"

"Oh, yes." Hermione mumbled, "I'll go see Madam Pomfrey after I finish helping Dobby clean up."

"Alright then." Cedric answered, "I have to go, see you later then."

"Okay," Hermione murmured, trying to smile naturally.

Right after Cedric left, Hermione turned to Dobby, "Dobby, do you mind if I go see Madam Pomfrey now?"

"Of course not, miss." Dobby said with a knowing expression, "But Dobby doubts she can help you."

It was only when Hermione was halfway to the Infirmary that she realized what Dobby had said. What exactly had he meant by that? He better not have meant what she thought he meant.

That evening, the students gathered for dinner in the hall that had been decorated by a bunch of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year girls that had gone all out with red, pink and white decorations. Hermione caught sight of the Slytherin girl from earlier that day, turning a bouquet of red, pink and white roses purple, just as Hermione turned a bunch of floating pink balloons black. They exchanged a mutual grin of conspiracy before they were pulled back into conversation with their respective friends. All throughout the dinner, Hermione avoided looking at Cedric, who tried to catch her eye on several occasions.

At the end of the meal Dumbledore stood up, "Everyone, your attention please."

Everyone turned to look at their headmaster.

"What do you all think of having dessert?" This was greeted with an enthusiastic shout from everyone. Dumbledore snapped his fingers and two large cakes appeared on every houses' table.

Hermione stared at the cake that was closest to her. It looked very much like the cake she had baked with Cedric and Dobby.

"These cakes," Dumbledore said, "Were, I believe, baked by two of our students along with one of our house-elves, Dobby."

By this time everyone had bit into their pieces of cakes and murmurs of appreciation were heard around the hall.

"I do not know if those two students want to show themselves?" here Dumbledore looked at Hermione and Cedric with a twinkle in his eyes, "Come on, Hermione Granger and Cedric Diggory, please stand up."

Hermione and Cedric hesitantly stood up and the rest of the hall broke out in loud applause, "Thank you for the lovely cake." Dumbledore laughed, "Cedric and Hermione!" Seizing the glasses of butterbeer that had suddenly appeared by everyone's elbows they toasted Hermione and Cedric. Then Cedric succeeded in catching Hermione's gaze and she flushed scarlet and sat down hurriedly.

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><p><strong>Review please!<strong>


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